2nd Generation
by Athena'sPride95
Summary: Greek mythology is full of deadly monsters but every demi-god knows about them and once you know how to beat them they aren't much of a challenge. Why aren't there ever any new monsters? Can there be? Percy Jackson, Hero of Olympus, is about to discover the chilling answer to both these questions . . .
1. Prologue: looking back on it

**I have finally written it dear readers. After coming second in the polls and several prompts via personal message I have finally written the prologue to the new Percy Jackson fan fiction. I just want to make one thing perfectly clear here; I am not a Twihard or vampires vs werewolf nut so don't expect sparkle fairies or a Kristen Stewart like Annabeth! I just had an suggestion and people liked it.**

**And now for the boilerplate disclaimer: I do not own PJO or any of its related character's locations or content. All rights reserved by Rick Riordan.**

**I apologise, but I just wanted to be clear so without further ado...**

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Prologue: Looking back on it…

The following is an extract from a battered journal, found beneath the floorboards of a house occupied by monsters, recovered by demigods questing in the greater New York area. Upon their return to camp Half-Blood the book was replicated for camp records. It vanished again a week later:

_July 20__th__2016_

_People change. I'm not being philosophical it's a simple fact of life. Whether they want to or not every single person changes, they grow up, they experience life, they get old blah, blah. Of course some of the most significant changes are those we make for the ones we love and that goes for me too. I've always liked to think that she loved me for me just the way I was, but I can't deny that I have changed over time too, tried to be less clueless and more of the man she deserved. I must have done something right because she stuck with me. Of course some changes are unavoidable, usually the biological ones, whilst some come about as the result of the individuals, events and experiences in our lives. These are the ones that are the most drastic and most noticeable._

_Gods I look melodramatic writing like this but that's just something else I suppose. Since I started writing this journal, diary whatever you want to call it I haven't changed that much. I've discovered more about myself and I've made choices that have left me both happy and hating my own guts. I wouldn't even have this journal but I decided to keep one in light of the biggest change of my entire existence and I'll continue to write it for many, many, many years to come._

_I've never really considered it properly until now, too many bad memories, but I suppose it would be a good idea to leave a complete account both for my own sake and so that anyone else who may get hold of this in years to come will know the truth._

_Where to start? Well I guess the best place would be on my last quest; to Springfield Massachusetts. It was a simple enough thing, the two of us knew the drill by then, satyr finds demigods, satyr scents monsters they can't deal with alone, satyr asks for help and we go in to help bring them back to camp alive. It was going well too, no problems getting there or finding the school or anything like that. Looking back on it I can think of a few things I would have done differently._

_Then again maybe I wouldn't . . . _


	2. Chapter 1: Too much School spirit

**Finally! This book has given me more trouble than anything else I've written. Writer's block can be most disabling. Anyway after months of stagnation and a sudden burst of inspiration the next chapter is finally complete. Please read and review I would love to know what you think. **

**Athena's wisdom to you.  
-Athena'sPride95**

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Chapter 1: Too much school spirit can kill someone

"RUN!" I yelled, slamming open the double doors and allowing Annabeth to rush past me with two terrified looking teenagers and a screaming satyr in tow. I looked back down the corridor we had come from to see the entire school cheerleading squad racing towards us, a very familiar dark skinned girl in the lead. All of them looked majorly pissed hissing, baring sharp fangs, eyes glowing red as they sprinted towards us getting way too close way too quickly. Needing to slow them down I ducked through the doorway and shut the doors quickly, unsheathing riptide and wedging it through the handles to keep them closed. I figured that gave us about two minutes from when I ran before it would return to my pocket. Great, in a school this size it was just enough time for us to get lost. I ran down the corridor looking left and right for possible escape routes. We needed one fast. I rounded the bend and nearly ploughed headlong into Annabeth who had stopped and was waiting with her dragon tooth sword at the ready.

"Hades, Annabeth!" I yelped stopping as fast as I could to keep from getting impaled "careful with that thing"  
"Sorry" she lowered the tip "where are they?"  
I jerked a thumb back up the corridor "I blocked the door with riptide, so I reckon we've got about" I checked my watch "a minute till they're on our asses again". Casting a quick glance over the group assembled behind her and noticed that one of our party was missing. "Where's shrub?"  
Annabeth snorted "that cowardly satyr kept running, said he wasn't sticking around".  
The four of us started jogging again "Can't really blame him" I admitted "even I've never seen this many Empusaii in one place before, there's like twelve of them!"  
"Still, that's no excuse for cowardice. Grover wouldn't have abandoned us" she was right of course. Our oldest satyr friend, Grover Underwood, had often been scared out of his wits when he'd accompanied us on our adventures but he had stuck with us through worse situations than this. I think.

A bell rang and students began filing out of classrooms on either side of us.  
Annabeth stowed her weapon "let's blend with the crowd and get to the field as quickly as possible"  
"Definitely" I agreed. Then I felt something drop into my pocket and I knew Riptide was back "they'll be on us again soon" I muttered in her ear taking out my pen to show her.  
"Crap. Alright then let's get out of here fast".  
At this point one of the kids with us, Steven I think his name was, regained his senses enough to ask indignantly "Are either of you nut jobs, at any point, going to tell us what the hell is going on and why my girlfriend and her cheerleading buddies are trying to kill us?"  
I glanced over my shoulder at him and almost laughed at the look on his face. It's weird looking back on it and realising that I was once just as confused about the world of demi-gods as this guy.  
"I'll explain when we're safe kid, for now what's the fastest way to the sports field?"  
"Through the Gymnasium, why?"  
"Which way?" I asked ignoring his question for time's sake.  
"Look" he growled getting irritated "I ain't telling you shit until…"  
He never finished though because Annabeth cut him off "there they are!"

I looked back and spotted the cheerleading squad wading through the crowd towards us, they didn't seem to have spotted us yet but they seemed to have come to the same conclusion as we had and if they got any closer they would certainly see us.  
"We need a way to clear this crowd" Annabeth decided as a particularly burly boy shoved past her "and a distraction". I glanced around frantically until I spotted a sign indicating the fire exit was in the opposite direction to the one we were travelling "Time for a fire drill" I grunted slamming my elbow into the fire alarm as we passed it. Alarm bells started ringing and a couple of girls screamed as the sprinklers kicked in. The crowd all began to move in one direction grumbling, talking and being stupid but most importantly slowing down the girls trying to get to us.  
A passing teacher spotted the cheerleaders and called "come on girls outside, this one isn't a drill". Apparently unwilling to blow their human cover just yet I watched as they turned away and followed him. Breathing a sigh of relief I ducked into an empty classroom after Annabeth and the others who were by this point soaked through even though I was perfectly dry.

"Ok" Annabeth whispered "once the corridors are clear we head up to the gymnasium and out across the sports field. We can be on the pegasii and gone in a couple of minutes".  
"Yeah, Just one thing" I reminded her "we don't know the way", turning back to Steven I asked him whether he was going to tell us the way. He just stared daggers at me. Then the other kid, Cuthbert (Poor kid; Athena does pick the weird ones sometimes. Don't kill me Annabeth), spoke for the first time.  
"It's right up the corridor, turn left and follow it to the end"  
"Thanks" Annabeth said quietly resting a reassuring hand on her sibling's shoulder. I nodded and moved back to the doorway, opening it and peeking out onto a deserted corridor, wet but completely clear.  
"Go" I said opening the door wide and moving back out of the classroom, but we hadn't even gone three doors down before a furious hiss made us all turn to look back, at the end of the corridor stood the empusaii kill team with the dark skinned girl up front leering at us.  
"Nice try Percy" called Kelli (Damn but that bitch was persistent) "But no dice. Come back here, I still owe you that kiss and I wanted to introduce my girls here to your friends."  
Steven, stepped forward looking furiously between me and Kelli "What are you talking about Kelli? Are you saying you know this asshole?"  
_That's not necessary _I thought.  
Kelli laughed "Oh Stevie honey, didn't I mention? Percy and I have a history"  
"Yeah and not a pleasant one" I finished "don't listen to her kid she's messing with you." I told Steven grabbing him by the shoulders and steering him away. "Sorry" I called over my shoulder "we'd love to kill you a third time and put you at the top of the list for most stubborn monsters but we've got to go. Run" I muttered the last and gave the demigods a hard shove to get them running again, the empusaii came after us.  
"They're gaining on us" Annabeth yelled to me.  
We rounded a corner and saw double doors ahead "There's the gym".  
"No duh" responded Annabeth and we slammed through. About half way across the basketball court a dozen red eyed women burst in behind us. "We'll never make it across the field with them this close" she panted skidding to a halt and bringing her weapon out. It was clear she was right. I had to think of a way for them to get out. I looked up at the sprinklers in the ceiling girders, still soaking the gym and a thought occurred to me.

"Keep going. I've got an idea"  
Annabeth, sensing another of my crazy plans which of course was a correct assumption, grabbed my arm. "Are you crazy?" She directed her gaze over the demon cheerleaders who had stopped on the command of Kelli and were watching us with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. Waiting to see what we were planning no doubt.  
"Even you can't handle that many!"  
"I'll be fine" I told her, which was basically a lie "You just need to get them out of here"  
"No way" she growled.  
"Annabeth please this is no time for you to be stubborn, please I'm just going to buy you a couple of minutes then I'll be right behind."  
"I'm getting them to safety then I'm coming right back" she insisted.  
"Annabeth" I groaned exasperated "just g…"  
"I'M BORED" Kelli announced loudly from the gym entrance. She flicked her wrist lazily in our direction "Just kill them already".  
Eleven demon girls all hissed and leaped at us in unison. On instinct I thrust up my hands redirecting the water from the sprinklers into an airborne tidal wave that slammed them all aside.  
"Get going!" I yelled at the three of them. It was the last thing I had a chance to say before the empusaii were on their feet and on the attack again. I ended up taking on six of them at once, dodging attacks and slashing at any that came within striking distance. Unfortunately empusaii are considerably smarter than your average monster and knew not to come too close and yet keep the pressure on me. In my peripheral vision I could see the other five advancing on Annabeth who was being dragged away across the gym by the other two boys.

I redirected another jet from the sprinklers to blast their attackers then lost sight of them completely as my face was nearly bitten off. I spun away from the offending empusa and brought Riptide in and upward slash through her midriff. She broke into dust instantly and was washed all over the gym by the sprinklers. Somewhere to my left a door slammed and I knew I could now focus on getting out of here as quickly as possible. I parried another attack and riposted, cutting off a girl's head and literally smashed another into dust with a high velocity funnel cloud of water which broke her apart on the gym floor. I was pleased to see that the others didn't look so keen on attacking me directly anymore. Then the sprinklers shut off. I guess the staff must have figured out there wasn't really a fire and reset the system. One demon seemed to think that without the water I couldn't defend myself and sprang at me again. I swiftly proved her wrong, knocking her to the floor with a wave and stabbing her through the heart. Looking up I saw that the rest of them were backing away now, looking in shock at their dead sisters. Kelli locked eyes with me and I could see all the rage and hatred for me in them. With a final hiss she snapped her fingers, she and her minions erupted in matching columns of fire and vanished.

I straightened cautiously and cast around the gym for enemies, scarcely daring to believe that I'd won so easily. Apparently I had; fatal assumption to make. I sheathed riptide as the doors to the field banged open again and Annabeth charged in weapon drawn. She stopped abruptly when she noticed the gym was empty. She stared around dumbfounded.  
"What happened?" It took me a moment to reply as I was still trying to figure that out myself.  
"I don't really know. I killed four of them and the others just bugged out. I guess Kelli didn't want to lose any more minions". Annabeth looked about as convinced as I felt with that statement.  
"Seriously? It's not like her to just back off, much less run away."  
"I know" I agreed "but don't look a gift horse in the mouth"  
"What the heck is that supposed to mean?"  
"I don't really know" I said smiling "just something I heard Katie Gardner say the other day. Come on let's get out of here before our luck runs out". And that's what jinxed it. As I finished speaking a light flared behind me and I felt a sudden heat on my back.  
A voice whispered in my ear "It already has" then Kelli sank her fangs deep into my neck.  
"Percy!" Annabeth screamed, starting forward. The pain was instant and agonising like someone had just rammed a pair of red hot pokers right into my jugular. In pain and rage I grabbed Kelli's Ponytail and hauled her over my shoulder, her fangs exiting my neck with a sickly sucking noise. I tried to stamp on her head but she rolled away, came up crouching and snapped her fingers again.

The remaining seven empusaii reappeared, some facing me the rest facing Annabeth to prevent her from getting close.  
"Percy hang on!" she called to me "just let me deal with these bitches!"  
"Just Go" I told her, there was no way she was getting herself killed just because I was an idiot and let my guard down. I drew riptide with my right hand but my left was still clamped over my neck wound which was gushing blood all over my shoulder and onto the floor, sapping my strength in the process. If they all attacked now I didn't have a hope.  
"Keep her away" ordered Kelli "this is personal" they began to slash and lunge at Annabeth forcing her back towards the field access door.  
"No!" she yelled trying to get past them, but to no avail.  
"It's all right Annabeth I'll be fine" more lies.  
"Ohh look at you" Kelli mocked "tough talk considering you're mortally wounded. Time to die Percy" she licked my blood off her lips and stuck out at me. I dodged repeatedly using what little strength I had left just to stay alive. The door slammed shut and the locks were rammed home, I could hear Annabeth hammering on the other side but Kelli's friends turned and began to close on me in a contracting semicircle.  
"She's not coming this time" Kelli taunted "and guess what. When I'm done with you, she's next"  
"NO!" there was no way I was going to let Kelli harm Annabeth. I swung my sword but my head was throbbing and my arms were weak from blood loss. The slash was way off the mark and Kelli merely sidestepped sneering at me in disgust. She attacked once more and I tried to counter but she grabbed my arm and twisted it viciously. I yelled and dropped Riptide.

I knew I was done for then, and she knew it too. Disarmed and barley able to stand. She stepped forward and simply backhanded me across the face, laughing with glee. I fell to the floor and whacked my head again, making it throb even harder and momentarily blurring my vision. I tried desperately to get up but Kelly planted a Reebok high-topped foot on my chest and pushed me down, still laughing.  
Eventually she stopped laughing and wiped a tear from her eye "so this is how it ends for the mighty Percy Jackson" she cackled crouching lower "you know, I fantasised for so many years about taking a bite out of you Percy but I never believed I'd be the one to _end _you!" She cupped a hand to my cheek as someone would to a lover, but the touch was anything but affectionate "I'd prepared myself for another express ride to Tartarus but I guess tonight was my night. Goodbye Percy"  
I closed my eyes and waited for the end. I know it was a cowardly thing to do but I didn't want her fangs to be the last thing I ever saw. It didn't happen like that though.  
Instead I heard the main door to the gymnasium swing open again and an astonished "What the . . ." from Kelli.  
I forced my eyes open to see that Kelli had straightened up again and was facing the entrance to the gymnasium. Curious despite my situation, I struggled to turn my head and look for myself.

A tiny girl of about eight years old was standing in the doorway. This in itself was weird as this was a high school and there were no kids that young. Her appearance seemed off too. She had long golden hair that hung in braided pigtails on her shoulders, thick rimmed glasses and an all-black private school uniform which was a stark contrast to her deathly pale skin. I wanted to tell her to run, I tried, but instead I only managed to cough up blood. Her eyes fixed on me momentarily but I couldn't read any expression in them, I couldn't even tell what colour they were, just black.  
"Who in Hades are you?" Kelli demanded.  
The girl looked back at her and spoke with a high yet emotionless voice that made what little blood I had left run cold "Your destruction Kelli"  
"My destruction?" gasped Kelli barley able to speak for laughing "Oh really? The little clear sighted mortal is going to kill me?" she fell to her knees, she was laughing so hard. Wow, she must have really been riding high on killing me because even in my state I could tell that the creepy little girl shouldn't be taunted. She didn't even register that the girl knew her name.  
Her fits of laughter cut off abruptly "this is pathetic" she said "kill her"  
"No" I croaked feebly. Not that it helped. I could barely hear myself so there was no way anyone else could hear my protest. All seven of the empusaii, Kelli not included, charged at once and closed over the girl in a matter of seconds. She never had a chance.

All of a sudden a violet light blossomed inside the football huddle of demons and with simultaneous screams of pain the empusaii were airborne, flying across the gym in all directions. I could not believe what I was seeing; at first I thought it was some near death hallucination. The tiny girl was floating a good three feet off the ground, her eyes glowing with power behind her glasses. Her arms were raised weird, almost Celtic, looking symbols adorned them like glowing purple tattoos still crackling with the vestiges of the magical blast.  
"HOW DARE YOU!" she bellowed her voice resonant and terrifying despite being that of a small girl "you would attack your own mistress? On top of all your other treachery and defiance?"  
**_Mistress? _**I thought my brain only able to sustain one thought at a time through the pain, **_Hecate?  
_**Empusaii who had been struggling back to their feet mere seconds before suddenly looked terrified dropping to their knees and cowering on the floor. I have to admit I was pretty much crapping myself at that point. I mean I'd met Circe and seen her magic but that seemed like a mere party trick compared to the display of power her mother had just given. The only Empusa still standing was Kelli.  
"Hecate, I didn't defy you, you betrayed us. You promised us all the young men we could feast on when Cronus won and what happened when he fell? You went crawling back to the gods. When Gaea came along she offered us the same deal but did you accept? No! We're not the ones in the wrong here . . . right girls?" but the others suddenly seemed to be in no hurry to agree with her.

A look of worry appeared on Kelli's face then. She grabbed me and hauled me into a sitting position, which made my head spin and my vision blur again. Still I was in no condition to resist, I was barely conscious. "Fine. You might send me back to the Pit again but you're not saving him, I'm taking him with me" I could feel her sliding towards my neck again but before she could finish me off Hecate spoke again.  
"Tartarus?" the question sounded rhetorical, I think, "no Kelli you and the rest of these unfaithful have gone too far" her twin torches materialised in her hands "I shall scorch you from existence!"  
"What?" for the first time Kelli sounded scared. Hecate began to move her torches through the air in a strange pattern, the markings on her arms aglow once more and spoke in a chanting rhythm like some kind of ritual.  
"_Born by my hand,  
by my hand undone.  
Unfaithful scourged,  
the deed done.  
The failures are cleansed,  
the aberrations gone.  
By the fire of my torch,  
the conclusion foregone!"  
_She swept the torches through the air in front of her and a roiling wall of flame erupted, rushing across the gymnasium toward us and engulfing anything in its path, yet I felt no heat from the flames. Empusaii screamed as they were burned right out of existence and I crashed back to the floor as Kelli was vaporised beside me.

Absolute silence engulfed the gymnasium; even Annabeth's hammering had long since stopped. A small part of my brain that was still functioning and managing to be ADHD was amazed that no one else had come in here yet. By then though it didn't really matter as I was barley holding on. My vision was constantly blurring and refocusing, shifting despite me best efforts to focus on Hecate.  
She descended to the floor muttering to herself "too rash, the balance is upset". She touched down lightly and began to walk toward me. Her torches were gone and the markings were vanishing from her skin. I couldn't tell if it was just my vision being on the fritz but as she moved she seemed to split into three girls all walking in unison. When she reached me she solidified again. She gazed down at me and I swear I could see pity in her face.  
Her voice remained emotionless "Perseus, I am truly sorry but you are going to die"  
the matter-of-factness of the statement finally rammed it home for me. I couldn't stop myself. Tears began to well up in my eyes. I was never going to see Annabeth, or my mother, or my friends again. I'd never get to say goodbye, and they wouldn't even really know what happened much less have a body to give the proper honours too.

Hecate's glasses flashed in the light as she stood over me, surveying me.  
"I can offer you an alternative" she said quietly, so quietly I almost missed it. I was suddenly desperate for the slightest glimmer of hope, wanting to hear what she had to say. Behind her the air suddenly split open and another figure emerged from the blackness. "Hold Thanatos" Hecate ordered without looking around, keeping her eyes on me. I was sure she could see my fear.  
"I apologise lady Hecate" replied the black winged figure of Thanatos, consulting his tablet computer "but my Lord Hades has been waiting for this a long time"  
"I will speak with Hades" Hecate retorted, the barest trace of impatience in her voice "go. You may return _if _you are needed"  
Silence.  
"Very well" Thanatos agreed at last "I shall wait. But not long" and he stepped back into the black portal and vanished.  
Hecate then spoke to me again "the balance is disturbed. It must be restored" she crouched next to me so close I could see my own bloodied face in her glasses. "I can offer you salvation, but only if you accept and give yourself to me. This is your final crossroads Perseus, decide. You may die here or you can let me in, and live on". It was taking too long for my dying brain to process what she was telling me. I just stared at my own confusion reflected in her glasses. She removed them so I could see the orbs of obsidian set into her pale face. "Decide Hero, Thanatos will not wait long."

You know people always say that right before you die there's that moment when your entire life flashes before you? Yeah, well I had that cliché moment right then. I saw my childhood pass in front of me. My mother smiling and laughing, the day of the museum trip, training at camp, the Sea of Monsters, Thalia, the Labyrinth, Calypso, the battle for Manhattan, me and Annabeth at the bottom of the lake together, our underwater kiss. I saw Camp Jupiter, my Roman friends, the quest for the legion standard, the journey to Rome, Tartarus, and the fall of the Giant king and the placation of Gaea. You get the idea. I didn't want it all to end, I had too many memories I wanted to keep and too many still too make. I struggled to lift my arm, reaching out a hand towards Hecate. She caught it in her tiny child hands and smiled at me slightly. I blinked then, and when I opened my eyes she was gone. ******_  
A hallucination, _**I thought **_my last hope wasn't real._**  
"Annabeth" **_I'm sorry. _**The last of my strength vanished, my hand dropped and I slid into the all-consuming blackness closing around my mind.


End file.
